Righteous Ascent: The Jihad Saga
by Allard-Liao
Summary: In 3075, the Word of Blake juggernaut was proving nearly invincible. But, by 3081, the Word was no more. What caused such a powerful organization to fall so quickly? A simple mercenary unit. This is their story.
1. Where Darkness Looms, Heroes Rise

Huntress

24 March 3060

"Leutnant! Get your ass over here!"

Leutnant Jeremiah Biddix twisted his 'Mech's torso to face his commander's 'Mech. At that moment, the Hauptmann's _Atlas_ was getting torn a new one by a Smoke Jaguar _Cauldron Born_. "I'm on my way." He raised his _Zeus_' arm and pulled the trigger for his LRM rack. However, instead of the whoosh of missiles, he was met by the silence of an empty ammo bin. "Shit," he muttered as he willed his battered machine into motion.

"Eat this, f***ing Clanner!" the Hauptmann roared as she drilled a gauss slug into the Jaguar 'Mech's left side and swept her lasers over its centerline.

The Clan warrior responded with a full barrage from its dual ultra autocannons, tearing away armor over the one-hundred-ton 'Mech's torso.

By this time, the Leutnant had maneuvered his 'Mech into line with the enemy unit. "Die, Clanner," he muttered as he pulled the trigger and hit the firing stud for his extended range weapons. The PPC's man-made lightning bolt carved a ragged scar along the _Cauldron Born_'s left arm while the laser punched into the ferroglass canopy, unfortunately lacking the power to burn all the way through.

The near-death moment made the opposing pilot flinch, however, and his next volley went wide. The Hauptmann's _Atlas_ stepped up and pounded the Smoke Jaguar 'Mech into scrap. "Took you long—" She never got to finish her reprimand. A storm of Class 20 autocannon shells tore up and down the centerline of the massive commander's 'Mech, blowing open the death's head and igniting the miniature star at the heart.

"You bas—" And then the Vlar engine detonated.

Defiance Industries Complex

Myoo Highlands, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

03February 3070

Captain Jeremiah Biddix shot up in his bunk, drenched in sweat and clutching the sheets. "Lights!" As the room brightened, he clutched his shirt over his chest, which still itched from the burns he had suffered when Hauptmann Arlene Kristof's _Atlas_'s engine had gone critical. "Relax. It was just a memory."

Despite the fact that the battle was ten–nearly eleven–years gone, and the numerous reviews he had run both in his mind and in the cockpit simulator that proved that nothing he could have done could have saved his commander, he still suffered from nightmares about that day. His -9S _Zeus_ had been completely trashed beyond repair by the blast and only captured Clan medical technology had kept him alive. After nearly a year of rest and healing, which prevented him from participating in the Great Refusal, he had petitioned for a transfer to this garrison.

While the duty was nearly cushy, Jeremiah and his recently assigned AV1-O_Avatar_ had been called to the defense of the Defiance-Hesperus factories several times during the FedCom Civil War; he had fought alongside the brave warriors of the Grey Death Legion and watched the legendary unit fall into disbandment.

The Captain shook his head ruefully and looked at his wrist chronometer, which he had left on his bedside table. It read that it was not even 0300 Terran Standard Time. Consigning himself to the fact that a return to the oblivion of sleep before he was to rise for morning maneuvers was impossible, Jeremiah got up and began to exercise. Then, an hour later, his XO, Lieutenant Lisa Thurman, opened the door to his quarters. Dropping from his pull-up bar, he nodded for her to speak.

"Sir, the Nadir jump point recharge station reported numerous ships jumping in, of various mass and role. Then we lost all contact."

"Damn. Any idea who is inbound?"

"Negative. However, judging by the turmoil in the Sphere, I'd assume the Blakist juggernaut has come knocking."

"Rouse the men. Let us get ready to slam the door in the Word's face."

Myoo Highlands, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

03 February 3070

"Alright. This is what we know. At 0230 hours Terran Standard Time, the Nadir Jump point jumpship recharging station detected the inbound signatures of an unknown number of JumpShips. At 0232, all communication with the station flat-lined. We can only presume that the station was destroyed or that signals from it are being jammed somehow. Either way, we are to treat whoever did it to a DSPF welcome worthy of the Gray Death Legion." He bowed his head to the applause, mostly in memoriam to the legendary unit that had given its life to defend the factories of Defiance-Hesperus.

"Any idea who we're going to be up against?"

"Officially, no. Unofficially, we are presuming that our aggressors are the WoB."

"Ah, geez."

The Word of Blake was a group of religious zealots who, for the past four years, had embroiled the Inner Sphere in an inter-empire war known as the Jihad. So far, Defiance Hesperus had been spared from the conflict. No more. The Word mostly used BattleMechs that had formerly belonged to Comstar, which the word had splintered from, and a few designs they had created in Marik factories. However, they had debuted a new series of OmniMechs less than a year earlier, and those machines were still unknown quantities.

Putting that thought out of his head, the Captain looked at his company, the Hellhounds, and mentally catalogued each warrior and their 'Mech. First was his executive officer–and the second member of his command lance–Lieutenant Lisa Thurman, who piloted one of the unit's only _War Dog_s. Next was Mechwarrior Evan Carter, pilot of a -7S _Warhammer_. Rounding out his command lance was Mechwarrior EricKensington, a Marik turncoat who had brought his -4M _Archer_ with him.

That brought him to the Strike lance, led by Jeremiah's son, Alexander. While there had been charges of nepotism nearly brought to the Lyran courts, the young pilot's piloting and gunnery scores had silenced most of the critics; his fists had convinced the rest. The boy piloted a BHKU-OD _Black Hawk-Ku_. The lance second was a rather large man named Calvin Luciano, whose ride was a -9Q _Lynx_. Third in the lance was Mechwarrior Katrina Dobermann, proud owner of a brand-new STC-3C _Starslayer_. The last member of his son's lance was Abraham Cohen and his KH1-LW2 _Lineholder_.

Finally, there was the "scout" lance: Lieutenant Orville Temple's SPR-5S _Spector_, Mechwarrior Sebastian Rio's FS9-O _Firestarter_ Primary, Mechwarrior Charles Pinter's WLF-2 _Wolfhound_, and Mechwarrior Susan Windom's BZK-3F _Hollander_.

Noticing the approach of his own commanding officer, and interrupting the chatter of his men, Captain Biddix cleared his throat and barked, "Atten-shun!"

"At ease," MajorJames Goree countermanded as he walked up. He had fought alongside Jeremiah in the Second Skye Rebellion of 3065, but his _Gunslinger_ had been reduced to scrap during the final clearing of the Defiance Industries' Complex's maze of tunnels. His replacement 'Mech was a modified _Banshee_, based on the -3S model that debuted in the latter half of the 3020s. It mounted a Pitban 285 standard engine, fifteen tons of light ferro-fibrous armor, a prototype improved heavy gauss rifle (that dominated the right side of the 'Mech's chest) with four tons of ammunition, two Kreuss PPCs, four Diverse Optics ER medium lasers, a Norse Guardian ECM unit, and fourteen double heat sinks. While the Captain was leery about the prototype weapon, he knew that the other weapons were reliable and granted a tremendous amount of firepower; the setup had prompted him to describe that _Banshee_ as a '_Hunchback_ on steroids.' "Men, I'm sure that Captain Biddix has already briefed you on the fleet that jumped in-system." When the company nodded, he continued, "One of our scout drones that they missed picked up a group of dropships making a two-and-a-half gee burn for the surface. That drone also gave us a view of their insignia. As a few of you might have guessed, they are the Word. Twelve _Overlord_s were sighted, making two full WoB divisions dropping down on our heads. However, their unit insignias do not match any that we know.

"As you know, the only other substantial forces currently on-planet are the Fourth Alliance Guard, reconstituted after the debacle on Carver V, and the Second Donegal Guard. Even with our two battalions, the two units will be out-numbered and out-gunned."

"Will we have any other support?"

"Not before the Word arrives."

"Which will be…?"

"In three days." There were a few worried murmurs, but they were quickly silenced. "I want you in your 'Mechs and drilling for the next two days. On the third, we will bring this portion of the Word of Blake's juggernaut to a halt!"

Amid the cheers of Jeremiah's company, the middle-aged officer departed. "You heard the man. Get to the 'Mech bay and prep your rides. I want you ready to begin training in twenty minutes or less. I also want you sleeping in your cooling vests and ready to mount your BattleMechs within five minutes of waking up. Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Defiance Industries Complex

Myoo Highlands, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

06 February 3070

The alarm forced the Captain from his sleep shortly before 0100 hours. He sprung from his bunk, shouted into his cooling vest's attached communicator to order his company to mount up and prepare for battle, and ran for his _Avatar_. Sprinting up the chain ladder, he plugged in his cooling vest, slid his neurohelmet onto his buzz-cut scalp, and dogged the entry hatch.

"Initiate voice key authorization," the computer gently ordered.

"Captain Jeremiah Seron Biddix."

"Voiceprint pattern match confirmed. Proceed with initialization sequence."

"Honor your friends, honor your comrades. All hail the victorious dead." Every mechwarrior developed a unique passcode phrase to prevent their 'Mechs from being stolen. With literally limitless possibilities for the passcode, the chances of someone guessing the phrase were infinitesimal.

"Welcome, Captain."

As the fusion engine at the heart of the _Avatar_ rumbled to life, Jeremiah thought to himself, _I have to set a shorter passcode. This one takes too long._

"Verifying weapon configuration." A moment later, the voice chimed, "Weapons online, sensors online, all systems nominal."

His _Avatar _had a unique configuration. Keeping with the allowable weapon type hardpoints, the right arm mounted a Thor 40mm Rotary Autocannon fed from a two-ton ammunition bay, allowing for two and a half minutes of continuous fire at its fastest rate. Mounted in each side torso were a Guided Technologies Second Generation Streak SRM-6 and a ten-pack Rocket Launcher (Who said that Periphery tech was worthless?). The left arm mounted the only energy weapon (other than the centrally fixed medium lasers): a Magna Hellfire Heavy PPC. The Heavy PPC was the newest addition to the Captain's _Avatar_, and he had yet to try it in real combat.

As the comm. unit came online, he barked into the company channel, "How're we doing, people?" Eleven variations of "ready op" came in and he switched to the DSPF command channel. "Colonel, where are they trying to set up shop?"

"As near as we can tell, they're putting down near the Caran River basin,"Colonel Daniel Brewer replied. He had taken command of the DSPF after the destruction of the GDL and formed a second battalion from the survivors.

"Why are they repeating the tactics used by the Skye Separatists in '65?" Jeremiah asked as he the 'Mech bay doors slowly opened.

"No idea. Wait one. Shit, half of the dropships have split off and are heading directly for the factory." His tone suggested that there was more information that wasn't good.

"Colonel?"

"Warships." Yes, with an "_s_." And the Word of Blake had never had any qualms about using orbital bombardment. Unfortunately, the Defiance Complex's defensive weapons' emplacements could not withstand orbital bombardment, as they had all found in '65 when the _Simon Davion_, having been captured by Separatist forces, had pounded the facility.

"So, what do we do, sir?"

"The Fourth Guard is on its way, via the rebuilt maglev. We shall meet them when they arrive, and then we shall move on the Blakist Defiance landing zone in force. Defiance Self-Protection Force, move out."

On the company channel, Alex stated, "I got a bad feeling about this, Dad."

"So do I, Alex. So do I."

Caran River Basin, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

06 February 3070

"What do you see, Lieutenant?" Colonel Brewer asked. He had detached Jeremiah's scout lance from the company and sent the faster 'Mechs ahead to recon the WoB LZ.

"They seem to have dropped a battalion worth of lighter 'Mechs from low orbit to secure the LZ. About half of 'em don't register with my warbook. Majority of that half have a blade sticking outta their wrists. Any clues, Cap?"

"Since I can't see them, I can't say for certain, but I'd guess that they're those new 'Celestial' OmniMechs."

"Pull back, Scout-1. Leutnant-General. What is your plan for attack?"

"All units, shift to passive sensor mode and then charge. We have the numbers, for the moment. Let's try to keep it that way." That was a strategy Leutnant-General Nathan Law, commander of the Fourth Alliance Guard, was well known for.

"Roger that. DSPF, advance!"

Jeremiah throttled his _Avatar_ to its nearly 65 kilometer-per-hour top speed. As he crested the river bank, he took aim at a small 'Mech, which his mind identified as a _Malak_, and pulled the trigger for his PPC. The cobalt man-made lightning bolt tore ravenously at the armor over the right side of the light 'Mech's chest. Unsatisfied after the armor was completely stripped away, the beam continued and ate away at the endo-steel bones and some of the equipment housed within. The _Malak_ staggered, and the entire right side of its body above the waist disappeared in a massive fireball; the explosion threw the little machine onto its left side and its heat signature rose from blue to a bright orange, indicative of the 'Mech mounting a light engine.

Before the thirty-ton 'Mech hit the ground, the Captain torso twisted and loosed a storm of autocannon shells and both volleys from his rocket launchers at a larger, sloped-torso unit he guessed was a _Preta_. The RAC/2's shells carved divots across the medium 'Mech's torso, but the rockets were clawed from the air by an AMS mounted on the lighter unit's left shoulder.

The _Preta_ responded with a PPC blast that did little more than blister paint along the _Avatar_'s left breast. "Light and noise. That's all those Light PPCs are. Pitiful," Jeremiah muttered to himself as his own PPC's capacitors recharged, and he pulled the trigger. His blast was devastating. The beam tore open a massive gash along almost the entire length of the medium 'Mech's leg. As it reloaded, Captain Biddix added his RAC to the mix, blasting armor along the same leg that had been savaged by the particle cannon. The pilot managed to put his BattleMech's left arm into the path of the autocannon's trail of destruction, saving the mangled lower limb.

Or rather, he saved it for a few seconds, as Susan's _Hollander_ stepped up and snapped off the leg at the knee with a single gauss slug. As the medium-weight _Preta_ smashed into the ground, Orville's _Spector_ rushed up to pump several gigajoules of energy into the unfortunate Blakist's cockpit.

"Push through these guys. We still need to hit the dropships."

"Roger that, Colonel," Jeremiah replied as he speared the first _Malak_ dead-center with the PPC, finishing off the engine and loosed a double-volley of Streak SRMs at a pursuing _Initiate_. As he caught sight of the dropships, he punched up the magnification and saw a 'Mech striding down one of the ramps leading to the cargo bay. "Colonel, Leutnant-General, they have begun deploying their heavier units."

A Defiance-built _Berserker_ bearing Fourth Alliance Guard colors accelerated past him and he heard the Fourth's commander order, "Hit them before they have a chance to form ranks."

"Roger." Then another 'Mech stepped out of the _Overlord_ closest to the Steiner formation. It looked stocky and heavy, with sloped armor over the central torso and very tiny side torsos. "Anyone have an idea what that is?"

"No, but it's mine," the Leutnant-General stated as his _Berserker_'s ER PPC reached out and boiled away over half a ton of armor from the massive 'Mech's lower leg. The General then activated his MASC unit and powered forward at 86 kilometers per hour. With the full firepower of the Guard and the DSPF distracting the other WoB 'Mechs from his charge, he was able to enter into melee range. Before he could swing the massive seven-ton hatchet attached to the right fist, the unknown 'Mech ignited a set of jump jets and flew sixty meters to land behind the _Berserker_, rotating sixty degrees as it flew, and blasted the BRZ in its left arm with a heavy PPC of its own.

Showing his ability to think on his feet, and his masterful control of his 100-ton beast, the General literally skip-walked backward the few dozen meters that separated the two assault 'Mechs and buried the hatchet in the enigma's chest, following the handheld club with a double blast of the pulse lasers that stitched a line of molten divots along the Wobby's torso.

The Blakist responded by extending a blade from its wrist and driving it into the _Berserker_'s back, along with a blast from a centrally-mounted plasma rifle and a second blast from the HPPC, which went wide.

Nathan's own reply hurt. Every single weapon system mounted in the massive _Berserker_, except for the PPC, concentrated on the unknown 'Mech's left arm. Then the hatchet came up and completely excised the blade-toting arm from the Blakist 'Mech. The Word warrior tried very hard to keep his machine on its feet, but the laws of physics were not to be denied. When the 'Mech crashed to the ground, the entirety of the surviving members of the Word of Blake division, ignoring the other Steiner 'Mechs, turned their guns on Leutnant-General Law. In less than three seconds, the 100-ton, axe-wielding monstrosity (that, by coincidence, had been built at the Defiance Hesperus facility) was vaporized.

Deprived of their leader, the Fourth Guard broke and any sense of organization fled, leading to the Steiner frontline unit being reduced to less than two battalions in short order while only crippling a few dozen Blakist machines. The surviving Guardsmen made a beeline for the Defiance factory complex. The DSPF, particularly the Grey Death Battalion, fought far better, giving better than they got. However, the smaller unit was eventually overwhelmed.

Among the kills the DSPF unit got was Major Goree's sniping blow from his gauss rifle. The two hundred fifty kilos of nickel-iron drilled into the heart of an older _Sentinel_ at five hundred fifty-seven meters. The sheer kinetic energy of the slug pulverized the frontal armor, snapped every single steel-titanium bone, and crushed and extinguished the 240-rated engine. "Whoo. Major, I'm glad you chose that beast of a weapon." Goree didn't reply.

Before his 'Mech fell, Colonel Brewer ordered, "Jeremiah, get your company out of here and cause these Blakist bastards hell."

"But sir–"

"That's an order, Captain."

"Yes, sir. Hellhounds, we are leaving. Brewer's orders. Command lance, we're on rearguard."

"Understood, Captain," Thurman replied as the company's lighter 'Mechs disengaged and began to withdraw towards Maria's Elegy. A crack of her gauss rifle announced the death of her opponent, a _Deva_.

"Carl, thunderstorm," Jeremiah ordered as his PPC pierced the three ammunition bins of a _Grigori_, whose explosion threw the sixty-ton 'Mech several dozen meters.

"Thunderstorm" was the Hellhounds' code word for the deployment of augmented Thunder LRM munitions, which could deploy ninety-meter-wide minefields. Carl's _Archer_ had enough of the specialized ammo for three full volleys. Laying down a two hundred seventy x one hundred eighty meter minefield deterred all pursuit from the Word of Blake 'Mechs, destroying two of them and crippling three more.

Myoo Highlands, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

18 April, 3070

"Cap! On your 8!"

Jeremiah ducked and spun his 'Mech, avoiding most of a full missile volley from an _Archangel_ Comminus. The few warheads that hit splattered harmlessly across the _Avatar_'s torso, to be answered by the last burst of shells from the Captain's autocannon. Like the _Archangel_'s missiles, the forty-millimeter shells had little effect beyond riling the pilot of the massive BattleMech.

The past two and a half months had seen the Hellhounds, now known to the Blakists as "The Furies," engage in a hit-and-run guerilla campaign against the occupying forces. Over that time, five 'Mechs had fallen, along with a few mechwarriors. Dobermann's _Starslayer_ had been demolished during the short, but vicious city-fighting in Maria's Elegy shortly after the disastrous battle at the Caran River basin. She had not survived.

They had traded Calvin and his _Lynx_ for a successful raid on a supply convoy outside of the spaceport at Maria's Elegy. Temple's _Spector_ had fallen outside of the Doering Electronics complex, but she had been recovered alive. Pinter had had salvaged components from each 'Mech put in his _Wolfhound_; namely, the _Lynx_'s Defiance 1001 ER PPC had replaced the Cyclops XII ER Large Laser, the rear Defiance B3M had been replaced with the _Spector_'s Defiance P5M pulse laser, a trio of ER Medium Lasers of unknown make salvaged from various Celestial OmniMechs had replaced the forward-mounted B3Ms, and, making room for the upgrades, the GM 210 engine had been replaced with the _Spector_'s Magna 245 Extra Light. While the changes lessened the _Wolfhound_'s heat efficiency, the increases in speed, range, and striking power were considered worth it.

On a raid to demolish the maglev transport, again, Eric's _Archer_ had fallen when both of its legs had been blown out by a set of anti-'Mech mines that had been lain down by Thunder LRMs, and he was captured by the Blakists. Windom's _Hollander_'s gauss rifle had taken damage and detonated, causing a sympathetic detonation of the engine, which, in turn, vaporized the light 'Mech.

Now, the Hellhounds/Furies had attempted a sniping raid against the factory complex, but the mission had gone from bad to worse to completely and utterly F.U.B.A.R. Dozens of fast WoB 'Mechs had poured out from the mountain and cut off the small DSPF unit's exit routes. It had been a costly, but extremely effective, strategy by the enemy commander. While the Hellhounds were trying to fight their way past the faster 'Mechs, the heavier Blakist units had come out to close the trap. Outnumbered more than 20-1, the situation was hopeless, and Jeremiah knew that. However, every Blakist that the men and women under his command brought down was one less Blakist menacing the rest of the Inner Sphere. Thus, the unit fought without any concern for their own well-being, knowing that they were dead anyway.

Charles's _Wolfhound_ was the first to fall, mainly due to a lucky strike that tore the gyro apart. Rio's _Firestarter _was currently tangled in a duel to the death with a full Level II of _Malak_s.

The _Archangel_ that had fired on the Captain's _Avatar_ went down as a full alpha strike from Carter's _Warhammer_ greedily eviscerated the hundred-tonner's back and internals. However, it appeared that the _Archangel_'s pilot was one of their Level III commanders, because, as one, nearly twenty 'Mechs concentrated their full firepower on the seventy-ton war machine, completely vaporizing it.

In revenge, Jeremiah coldly and carefully lined up a shot with a _Seraph_'s cockpit and drilled a heavy PPC bolt into the pilot's seat until there was little more than a few tons of molten scrap metal where the massive 'Mech's head had been. He spread the rest of his OmniMech's firepower over four other opponents, barely causing a dent in their armored skins. He backpedaled his 'Mech a few steps, and then slammed the throttle forward, throwing off their aim. However, that was not the primary purpose of the maneuver. He angled his _Avatar_'s torso forward and rammed its shoulder into a _Grigori_ that couldn't get out of the way fast enough, smashing the lighter 'Mech to the ground with a caved in torso. As it recharged, he dumped a plasma bolt into the Blakist's cockpit, just to make sure.

He turned to search for his next opponent, just in time for an _Archangel_ Invictus to step forward and raise its blade, its pilot intending to spear Biddix's _Avatar_. Before it could, Alexander's _Black Hawk-Ku_came down onto the massive machine's shoulders on pillars of argent flame, throwing it off balance and crumpling several armor plates. Before the Wobby could recover, Alex pressed his 'Mech's LRM launcher against the _Archangel_'s cockpit and shouted, "Eat this!"

However, as he pulled the trigger, a gauss slug from a _Deva_ collided with the arm that housed the LRM rack, causing the missiles to detonate across the heavier 'Mech's torso, rather than the head.

By this time, the _Archangel_ recovered and plunged its blade into the torso of the sixty-ton 'Mech. "My engine's gone. Punching out." The cockpit canopy of the _Black Hawk_ blew open and its command chair shot out on a set of rockets.

"Back-to-back!" Jeremiah shouted to what was left of his company, which was now Lisa's _War Dog_, Abraham's _Lineholder_, and his own _Avatar_. "Status?"

"Armor's almost gone." There was the sound of LRMs launching, followed by, "And now my ammo bins're dry."

"Doing a little better as far as armor goes, I'm down to my last three slugs, my AMS ammo is dry, and my streak racks are spent."

Looking at his secondary display, Jeremiah noted that his own Streak launchers were nearly empty, down to their last few salvos, and his armor was down below ten percent overall. After reporting these facts to his comrades, he added, "It's been anhonor fighting alongside you all."

Then one _Archangel_ stepped out from the crowd, the very same one that Alex had attempted to kill the pilot of. "If you surrender now, we shall let you go."

"F*** you," the Captain yelled as he loosed an alpha strike against the command 'Mech.

"So be it. Twelfth Division, eliminate these rats."

The fusillade of fire completely demolished Lisa's _War Dog_, killing her, and disabled both of the other remaining DSPF 'Mechs; the _Lineholder_ went down with a destroyed gyro, while Jeremiah's _Avatar _lost both side torsos, forcing the engine to shut down.

However, the Furies had not gone down quietly. Even during the last volley, a _White Flame_, a _Blue Flame_, and a _Toyama_ had been destroyed, and an _Atlas_ was heavily damaged.

Word of Blake POW Camp Alpha

Myoo Highlands, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

18 March 3071

"Tonight, we make our move."

Over the past eleven months, Jeremiah had reunited with most of his company, and a large portion of the rest of the DSPF, Second Donegal Guard, and Fourth Alliance Guard mechwarriors. Over the past eleven months, he had studied the behaviors of the prison guards. Over the past eleven months, he had smuggled plastic lunch trays into the various cells and fashioned various weapons and tools from them. Today, through a relay system, he had learned that someone important, probably the Blakist garrison commander, was coming to inspect the prisoners, so the guards would be uptight. While that might not sound like a good thing, he knew that the guards relaxed their standards after some event that important came and went without incident. The last time such an event happened, the prisoners hadn't had enough weapons prepared. Now, they did.

Interrupting his reverie was the sound of booted feet, different from the boots worn by the guards, clomping down the hallway. Keeping his back to the cell door, Jeremiah heard the owner of the boots stop outside of his and Pinter's cell. "So. You're the one who was a thorn in my side for almost two and a half months."

Jeremiah turned his head enough to stare directly at the speaker. "Go to hell," the Captain replied as he spit in the Wobby's face.

"I give you a chance to be civil." The man clicked his tongue. That was when Biddix took note of the physical differences. First and foremost, quite a bit of his skin was replaced by metal plates. Second, his eyes seemed to have been replaced with cameras. And third, there seemed to be numerous wires running under what little skin was visible. Noticing the DSPF officer's stare, the Blakist chuckled and asked, "Impressed?"

"Disgusted. You Manei Domini are truly little more than real-life Terminators."

The Demi-Precentor's brow knit in confusion, while Charlie simply smiled at the reference to the ancient film series. "I am afraid I do not get your meaning."

"Figured you wouldn't. Hey, don't you have a schedule to keep? Bringing about the apocalypse by the end of the week?"

Without saying a word, the Blakist commander simply walked away.

As Jeremiah had predicted, after the Demi-Precentor left, the guards relaxed. "Sloppy, very sloppy," the old Steiner warrior muttered. He began counting the seconds that separated the guards' patrol routes, judging how much time he would have after dropping one guard when another would show up. The resulting time was nearly a minute.

When the guard for his hallway passed close enough, the thirty-nine-year-old Solaran native and graduate of the Nagelring's class of '49 reached out and jammed his shiv into the unfortunate Word of Blake sympathizer's throat. Before the man could even so much as sputter, Charles was up and rammed his own shiv into the base of the back of the guard's skull. As the guardsman slumped to the ground, the two soldiers stripped the man's guns and keys. Pinter got the guard's primary weapon, a Gunther MP-20 submachine gun, while Jeremiah grabbed his sidearm, a Mauser and Grey flechette pistol. "We have less than forty seconds," the mechwarrior cautioned.

"I know," the Captain replied as he unlocked their cell. Tossing the keys to Pinter, he added, "Make yourself useful. Free the others." Without waiting for a reply, he scooted to the corner that he knew the next guard would come around. And he was right. As the second guard rounded the corner, but before he could react, Jeremiah sent a cloud of ballistic polymer slivers into the unfortunate man's face; the sap was dead before he knew what was going on. From the second guard came a TK assault rifle and a Sternsnacht heavy pistol.

Over the next few minutes, the prisoners fought their way to the prison armory. Once there, the POWs, who had all had at least some cross-training as infantrymen, became a force to be reckoned with.

"Now comes the hard part," Jeremiah announced. "There is a supply helo' out on the tarmac, but we will also have to disable or evade a large number of heavy units. Load up on demo packs, for we shall need them."

The improvised infantry unit stormed outside and used man-pack SRMs to demolish the guard towers. Two Zhukov tanks were sitting idle. "Can we take those?"

"No. Too slow. Blow 'em."

With the use of two demo packs, that objective was accomplished. There was also a single _Malak_ that came up minus a pilot, but Jeremiah ordered for the 'Mech to be destroyed as well. While the CASE unit had been difficult to get around, the soldiers used a shaped charge warhead in tandem with another demo pack to first punch a hole in the CASE, and then detonate the SRM ammo. With the sabotaged CASE, the explosion spread to the engine which overloaded and went critical.

Knowing that the explosion would wipe the facility off the map, the Captain had ordered the det charge's timer to be set for the longest time possible. Before it blew, he had everyone climb aboard the transport chopper, a modified _Cobra_ that had its anti-missile systems stripped out for a pair of far more compact small lasers and the ammunition for those systems had become an additional two tons of cargo space and an additional ton of armor (the last he learned later). Once everyone was aboard, he dropped into the pilot's chair and throttled up to the VTOL's 130-kilometer-per-hour top speed.

By the time the improvised fusion bomb detonated, the former Prisoners of War were kilometers away.

DSPF Supply Bunker

20 Kilometers outside Maldon, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

19 April 3071

"What are we doing standing in front of a blank cliff?"

As he searched for a keypad he knew was there, Jeremiah answered, "My father served in the DSPF before I did. He told me that they were squirreling away some war material for a 'rainy day;' if the garrison was overrun and Hesperus II was captured, there were a few supply caches scattered around the planet to ensure that any Steiner units that had managed to not be destroyed would have the parts and repair units they needed to continue the fight. This is one of those caches."

As he found and typed an entry code into the keypad, small portion of the rock face slid inward and then to the side out of the way, revealing a tunnel that traveled into the mountainside. "Okay. I'm officially impressed."

"Good. Now hurry up. We don't know if there's a Blakist warship overhead. As for you," he added to the VTOL's current pilot. "Hover at three meters for a few moments. After everyone was inside and Jeremiah shut the door, there was no evidence, except for the _Cobra_, that anyone had been there. Seconds later, the ground underneath the VTOL began to quake and then it suddenly dropped about a meter and then spread, revealing a massive helipad twenty meters underground. Once the pilot maneuvered the vehicle down onto the pad, the ground-level entrance sealed back up and there truly was no evidence that anyone had been to the site.

Inside, after everyone had regrouped, Captain Biddix flipped the surprisingly archaic switches that were arranged along the wall of the entry tunnel and continued his explanation. "Normally, these supply caches were only meant to supplement existing combat units; it was inconceivable that every single 'Mech in the DSPF _and_ the planetary garrison would be wiped out. But, since it has, we'll just have to make do."

In stages, dozens of overhead lights came on, illuminating a large number of tanks. "What are these pieces of junk?" one of the formerly 4th Alliance Guard mechwarriors spat in disgust.

"They're _Patton_ tanks, built when it was believed that BattleMechs would go extinct," Alex supplied.

"Pfft. As if that would ever happen."

Ignoring the Lyran front-line warrior's opinion, Jeremiah stated, "Nice. I'm glad you remember your history lessons, Alex." Turning to the Guardsman, he added, "And these are not pieces of junk. They mount more armor than and nearly as much firepower as 'Mechs their size."

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

"Fourteen and a half tons of standard armor plating is spread around their short, squat frames, and their armament consists of a class 10 autocannon, a flamer, a small laser, and a five-tube long-range missile rack, all mounted on a sixty-five ton chassis."

"I'll admit that that's heavy armor, but the firepower leaves a bit to be desired."

Cocking his head to the side and shrugging, the Captain replied, "Well, if you do not like that, then there is one other vehicle here in this cache." He led the group to another chamber, similar to the VTOL landing room, only much, much larger. Inside this larger room was a grouping of a dozen assault 'copters. "I give you our air power: a full company of _Yellow Jacket_ gunships. If you want to fight, then you'll either fly these, or drive the _Patton_s. Make your choices. Now, there are ninety, ninety-five of us, and there are thirty-six _Patton_s and twelve _Yellow Jackets_. If we run the tanks on their minimum crews, that will leave us with eight to thirteen men and/or women for our support crew. If we keep the regular crew complement for those tanks, then there won't be enough personnel to man all of the tanks, much less the VTOLs. Opinions?"

"Minimal crews. That way, we'll lose fewer people when the tanks get busted."

"Alright. Get in some training time and then mount up. We'll be heading for Maldon."

Maria's Elegy, Hesperus II

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

11 September, 3074

The past three years had seen the Steiner and DefHesp soldiers engaged in a brutal guerilla war with the Word of Blake occupiers. They had lost several men, as well as three _Yellow Jacket_s and seven _Patton_s, but they had captured eighteen BattleMechs and disabled or destroyed six more. However, it was to be a hopeless fight, simply a delaying tactic to stall this portion of the WoB juggernaut.

Or, so they thought.

A month or so earlier, a reinforcement fleet came in and demolished the Blakists' warship fleet, landing their own army shortly thereafter. With help from the resistance groups, they smashed the Wobbies, liberating the major industrial planet.

Those members of the resistance whose 'Mechs had survived relatively intact had had their 'Mechs returned to them, and those whose BattleMechs had been completely demolished had new Defiance-built machines issued to them. Jeremiah, however, decided to leave Hesperus II to continue the fight against the Word of Blake in his own way, as a mercenary. "Anyone who wants to come with me, I will welcome your aid," he said as he left the DefHesp factory. Almost every man and woman who had fought alongside him followed.

Galaport, Galatea

Lyran Alliance

6 June, 3075

"Okay, and how large is your unit?"

"Approximately regimental strength, when you include armor and infantry support."

The MRBC representative typed the information into his noteputer and continued, "And have you thought of a name for your combined arms unit?"

"Yes. 'Righteous Ascent.'"

The other man looked at him incredulously for a second, and then he shrugged. "I've heard worse." He entered the final information and, after disappearing around the corner for a moment, returned with a hardcopy of their MRBC registration. "Welcome to the hell that is mercenary work, Colonel Jeremiah Seron Biddix."


	2. Hitting the Big Time

Desperate Measures, Limited, 2nd Generation Main Offices

Pang IV

Taurian Concordat

11 July 3075

"I love what you've done with the place," Jeremiah stated as he walked into his nephew, Daniel's office.

"Thanks, Uncle Seron. I like to think that our ancestor might be pleased at how I've resurrected the company."

"I think so too." The elder looked at the younger's desk and added, "I'm sorry to say that I need a favor."

Nodding, Daniel replied, "I thought as much. Name it."

"I need a few custom pieces of war materiel."

"Sounds doable. What are they and how soon do you need them?"

"Firstly, I believe I will need three squads of a custom design of battlearmor within a year."

"Easy. Next?"

"My unit could use a few new BattleMechs. And I want a fully custom machine."

"As for most of your unit, I can probably reroute some of the production runs for the Taurian Concordat and the Federated Suns. With yours, however, I'll have to know the stats you plan to have, but I can't promise that you'll get it within a year."

"I figured that, so I took the liberty of jotting down the desired equipment," the Colonel replied as he pulled out a hard-copy and handed the sheet to the CEO.

After studying it for a few minutes, Daniel put the paper down and stated, "You know, with a small amount of temporary retooling of our _Atlas_ line, this could work. This _Oni_."

Location: Classified

11 November 3076

"Everybody in position?"

"Predators ready to pounce."

"Omega Battalion. Ready to hammer these Blakist bastards."

Jeremiah smiled in the cockpit of his custom-built _Oni_. The 'Mech was one of a kind. Built on the _Atlas_'s Foundation Type 10X chassis, the Colonel's personal BattleMech stood almost 16 meters tall, making it one of the tallest, heaviest 'Mechs in the galaxy. Forming the core of his custom machine was a highly durable, three-hundred-rated, standard fusion engine (He was not using an extra-light engine ever again, if it was at all possible.). Nineteen and a half tons of Valiant Lamellor armor gave the _Oni_ the thickest skin possible for a 'Mech its size (unless you counted the Solaris-born _Great Turtle_ with its even thicker thirty-eight and a half ton hardened armor shell). The defensive equipment did not end there. Three jump jets provided greater mobility than most 'Mechs its size, and an Apple-Churchill Guardian ECM Suite gave it the ability to hide from advanced sensors and kill at least a portion of C3 networks, the improved version of which the Word of Blake used extensively.

However, the _Oni_'s firepower was, in some ways, not matched by 'Mechs its size that were built around the half-weight endo-steel internal structure or mounted extra-light engines. The one-two punch core consisted of a Magna Hellfire Heavy PPC and a Ceres Arms Crusher Plasma Rifle, which had the added benefit of lessening return fire by overheating the target on the receiving end. The secondary weapons consisted of a battery of six small lasers, half of which were extended range, supported by the well-proven paired ten-pack rocket launchers. Also, to enhance the frightening aspect of the massive machine, and further reduce return fire in close-quarters combat, a flamethrower was mounted where the 'Mech's nose would be, were it human. The reason for the varied and undersized support weapons was to provide and keep the "golden zone" for the triple-strength myomers that gave extra strength to the hundred-tonner's limbs.

The only unfortunate fact about the "golden zone" of heat was that that level of heat slightly addled the targeting sensors. However, Jeremiah had balanced out that problem with the installation of a five-ton NAIS targeting computer, which perfectly countered the disruption that twenty-seven thousand Kelvin wrought on the standard targeting sensors.

As the last acknowledgements from his regiment came in, Jeremiah announced, "Execute."

He knew that their dropships' arrival two months earlier had been detected, but, so far, his hope that the regiment's combat drop had not was holding out. The two 'Mech battalions had completely avoided detection and contact with Blakist forces on-planet, while the battlearmor unit and their accompanying VTOL and tanks had stayed on the dropships. When the ships had grounded, hired air support and the armor unit had fought a delaying/defensive action against the entire Word of Blake 47th Shadow Division. It had been a very calculated risk, but that risk was about to pay off and make a devastating running battle.

Recon flights had shown that their specific targets were moving through a nearby city. Thus had the Black Legion, three squads of the custom-built Predator battlearmor, deployed to ambush their Manei Domini counterparts.

Jeremiah could only hope that they could get their job done, as he knew that, even with the dropships' support, Righteous Ascent couldn't hope to hold out in a protracted battle against one of the most ruthless Shadow Divisions. Sure, he had some of the best mechwarriors in the Inner Sphere, hired straight out of the Solaris VII arenas, but the Blakist unit's warriors were enhanced with enough technological gizmo implants that they might have been equals even if they didn't possess their two-to-one numerical advantage.

Righteous Ascent's two 'Mech battalions charged forward at a stately thirty-two kilometers per hour, having crept nearly into range under passive sensors, and unleashed a blistering fusillade of laser, PPC, cannon, gauss, and unguided missile fire. With their backs turned, almost a full company of Blakist machines fell in that first volley.

"Full speed," the Colonel roared as he accelerated the _Oni_ to the fastest it could go, for the moment. He then fired two of the lasers, one of each type, into the ground, as they were far out of range to have a prayer of scoring against any of the Celestial OmniMechs. However, his two volleys of rockets, particle cannon, and plasma rifle had more luck. While they scored a few hits against the Manei Domini warriors, their real roll came into play as he felt the wave of heat wash over him, and his 'Mech sped up.

With one hundred seventy meters separating the two forces, and another dozen Word BattleMechs heavily damaged, Colonel Biddix engaged his last weapon, which had already been proven to be a viable physical combat weapon on the very 'Mechs he was about to use it on. He could hear the gears and pistons actuate as they pushed the five-and-a-half-ton retractable blade out from its sheath along the underside of his 'Mech's right arm. A damaged _Grigori_ was the first enemy to fall to the deadly blade, which, with the TSM warmed up, hit as hard as a Class 20 Autocannon.

The smaller 'Mech was literally lifted into the air by the impact, and then it was unceremoniously dropped with a crushed engine as Jeremiah continued his charge. Right beside him was one of the Solaris warriors, a legend in her own right, Srin Odessa, her customized _Daishi_ (_Dire Wolf_, as it was called by the Clans) blazing away with its twin heavy medium lasers, Class 20 Ultra Autocannon, and 15-tube LRM rack (which, being Clan-built, armed its missiles within the first meter or so out of the launcher.

Jeremiah did have to admit that the Solaris VII fighters knew how to customize their 'Mechs to deal maximum damage. Several of the hatchet-, mace-, and sword-users were cleaving their way through the WoB lines, while the lighter 'Mechs zipped around the flanks and poured light laser fire into the confusion.

However, he knew that the Blakist's confusion would not last forever, and he did not want to get into a slug-fest with a well-organized enemy. While almost two companies-worth of Celestials lay on the ground smoking and not one Righteous Ascent 'Mech was down, the enemy still outnumbered his forces. "Disengage and withdraw to Nav Point Gamma. Then loop to Nav Beta."

He began walking his 'Mech backwards, keeping up the fusillade of fire and slashing any Manei Domini that came close enough. He could only trust that the rest of the warriors of his command were doing the same. His secondary monitor told him that the lighter, faster 'Mechs of Omega Battalion were disengaging entirely and darting to the rally point before stopping to provide cover fire for the heavier, slower BattleMechs of Alpha Battalion.

It was at this point that some 'Mechs began to fall on his side. He noticed that one of the warriors had failed to disengage: Srin. Her _Dire Wolf_'s leg was heavily brutalized, and she was trying not to put too much weight on it. The 'Mech's heat signature was beginning to turn red, but she was neither slowing down her rate of fire nor allowing the Great Death to shut down. "Sorry, Col…My…over. Good luck."

Static from both heat and damage made the message barely legible, but he got the meaning clearly enough. "Good luck, and give 'em hell, Odessa." And then the _Daishi_ exploded, and eight more Celestials were demolished. There was no sign of an ejection pod from the gladiator's 'Mech, not that it would have been able to escape the explosion.

Another _Grigori _stepped forward and faced the Colonel's 'Mech. Warning alarms told that the Manei Domini pilot had a target lock for several missile systems, and the _Oni_ did not mount an anti-missile system. Before it could fire, a cerulean lightning bolt shot between the hundred-tonner's arm and torso and burrowed into one of the loaded missile racks, detonating the missiles and tearing the _Grigori_ open like a tin can. As the heavy 'Mech fell, Jeremiah heard Charles say, "Couldn't let that shot go by untaken."

"Cocky as ever, eh, Reaver? I think we need a new nickname for you."

"'Deadeye,' maybe."

"Only if you keep making shots like that."

Pinter chuckled on the other end. "I accept that challenge."

A new communication came in on the radio. "This is Hobart. Objective accomplished. Give us nine-zero seconds for the T.O.O." T.O.O. was the unit's acronym for Target of Opportunity.

"Understood. Good job, Predators. What are your losses?"

"We lost two men, and three are wounded."

"Leave your wounded on guard while you assault the T.O.O."

"Yes, sir."

Switching back to the regimental channel, Jeremiah relayed, "Black Legion has achieved their mission. We need to buy a little more time for them to hit the T.O.O."

"Gonna be hard with us so close to our C.L.G.," one of the Solaran warriors warned. C.L.G. stood for Combat Loss Grouping, the point where the 'Mechs of a certain weight class succumbed to damage at approximately the same time.

"I know. But we have to try."

Fortunately, the Blakists began to waste time by reorganizing their forces for a single massive assault. That gave time for the mercs to regroup and loop around to Nav Point Beta. As the Word of Blake division began to pursue, they made a tactical error, as the faster 'Mechs the Manei Domini owned gave chase so intensely that they left their larger, slower brethren behind. For some reason, they failed to realize that the smaller unit was withdrawing to their dropships.

Then came the reason. "This is Hobart. T.O.O. is destroyed, data is downloaded, and Precentor Azazel is dead. No casualties."

"Excellent work, Legionnaires. Pull back to the dropships, ASAP. Alpha Battalion, Omega Battalion, haul ass to the dropships. We are leaving. Mission accomplished."

The sixty-some remaining functional BattleMechs of Righteous Ascent hurtled toward their dropships at the fifty-four kilometer-per-hour top speed that the unit's slowest 'Mechs could achieve, with the faster 'Mechs occasionally stopping, turning, and taking potshots at the pursuing Manei Domini before resuming their withdrawal. After a few minutes, the enemy formation was in range of the artillery pieces that were all that remained of the two armor companies, and shells began to rain down on the Blakist formation, causing more confusion than damage, and the Word of Blake 'Mechs broke off their pursuit.

Dropship _Miranda's Fury_

Bound for Zenith Jump Point

System Classified

November 12, 3076

"What's the damage, Charlie?" the Colonel asked as he slumped down onto his bunk.

Taking a seat on the bunk across the cabin from his superior officer and friend, the Major replied, "Your battalion lost nine 'Mechs, their pilots KIA or POW, and the rest are heavily damaged. Mine is out nearly twice that, and one lance's worth is crippled. The armor unit that volunteered to go with us is down to two heavily damaged and three nearly crippled tanks, and seven full crews. Out of twenty-four of each. The air assets we hired took ten percent casualties, and eight more of their pilots are too wounded to continue combat duty. The Black Legion lost two men and their armor, while the others are suffering from varying amount of damage. Those Seeker Nephilims are very dangerous in groups." He looked down between his legs at the floor for a moment, and then looked back up and asked, "I don't know if the two bounties we came for are worth it."

"You're right. No amount of money, or intel, or justice, or even peace is worth the deaths of good men. But no one with any kind of power seems to realize that, and they continue to plunge the Inner Sphere into war after war." Jeremiah gazed out through the viewport as the _Overlord_-class dropship began to decelerate in order to safely dock with the jumpship that was going to whisk them away back toward Galatea. "I'm not even fifty and I've already lived long enough to see six separate interstellar wars." He shook his head, and then he changed the subject. "What did the Legion manage to acquire from the Forty-Seventh's headquarters?"

"Well, we now know the location of several colonies that exist on worlds deemed 'inhospitable' before the Word took them. The most prominent is an R&D world. They call it 'Casa,' Spanish–"

"For 'home.' I know. What kind of research is being done on that world?"

"I wish I knew, sir."

Cupping his chin and rubbing at the stubble that was there, Colonel Biddix asked, "Any idea of what defenses are stationed there?"

"According to the report that Fred found, their Tenth Division. No listing of aerospace support."

Jeremiah pondered for a moment before gently ordering, "Give the men a six-month period to mourn. Two months will then be spent rebuilding, and we will go after Casa."

"Thank you, sir," Pinter replied as he stood.

"By the way, what is the estimate of the damage we did to the Forty-Seventh?"

"As far as the last recon flyby after we boosted could tell, that Shadow Division is down one Level Three between dead pilots and destroyed 'Mechs. Add in the loss of their HQ vehicle, their commanding officer, and two Level Is of battlearmor, and they did not have a good day." He saluted. "Good night, Jerry."

"Good night, my friend," the Colonel replied as he returned the salute. "Lights out," he ordered the computer as he lay down to get some sleep, and Charles left the room.


	3. Assault of Casa

Galaport, Galatea

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

18 June 3077

"Hey, your unit the one that killed the Bionic Witch?"

Jeremiah spun on his bar stool to see who had addressed him. At the door stood a man in a disheveled Com Guard uniform; he appeared to be about one hundred sixty centimeters tall and less than seventy kilos in weight; neatly parted, medium-length brown hair and hazel eyes made him even more average. "Why would you be asking?"

Stepping over to the bar counter right next to the mercenary colonel, the Comstar man stated, "I'm looking for a job."

Righteous Ascent's commander sputtered the fusionnare he had been taking a sip of. "Run that by me again?"

"I'm looking for a job."

"Don't you have one with your fellow Guardsmen?"

"Not anymore. My unit was eliminated."

Seron scoffed. "Join the club." He took another swig of his drink, emptying it, and called for a simple, weaker beer.

"Andrew Benavidas."

"Pleased to meet you."

"I own a warship."

For the second time, Jeremiah nearly choked on his drink. "You **what**?"

Andrew nodded. "A refitted _Du Shi Wang_ and two _Excalibur_-class pocket warships, modified to carry men and materiel."

"You're hired. Whatever salary you want, you've got it."

"Revenge on the gods-damned Blakists is all the salary I'll need."

"Well, revenge won't pay your bills, so I'll give you and your crews twenty percent of every contract we get. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough."

"'Course, we aren't going on a contract just yet. The next mission I have lined up is a pure revenge mission. I'll brief everyone at the same time. By the way, do you have any personnel who can work an HPG unit?"

"Most of us are cross-trained in that respect."

"Good. Follow me." Jeremiah tossed a few C-Bills onto the bar and walked out, Andrew following.

"Our target is what?" one of the new warriors of Righteous Ascent, a former Wolf's Dragoon, asked incredulously.

"The capitol and Research and Development Center of the Word of Blake's 'hidden' worlds, Casa."

"And, we're not even getting paid for this?"

"Don't worry. You'll still get paid. Just not as much as usual. And, because we aren't bound to a contract, we have full salvage rights. Whatever we can haul off is ours."

"Okay. That's good news. Now, what might that salvage consist of?"

"The remnants of an entire Division, the Tenth."

"A second-line unit. Well, it's better than nothing."

"And, we'll also get whatever tech the Blakists are developing there."

Evil grins spread throughout the merc unit.

Zenith Jump Point, Galatea

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

20 June 3077

"There she is, Colonel. I haven't decided on a new name for her, yet," Andrew stated as he pointed out through the forward view screen of the _Excalibur_ that Righteous Ascent's Alpha Battalion had been loaded on at the ancient battleship keeping station at the jump point.

Colonel Biddix looked out and examined the massive space-faring vessel. "From what I know of the _Du Shi Wang_s, I can see that you restored the original complement of Naval Lasers and PPCs, but…are those Naval Gauss Rifles?"

"Yes, sir. Heavies, ten of them. Four on each side and two on the nose."

"Ouch. I've seen what those weapons could do during the Civil War. Ten of them." The older man whistled.

"And each is fed from its own twenty-round rotary ammunition bin, similar to a revolver. I also added an additional grav deck, replaced the engines, doubled the number of lifeboats and escape pods, and upgraded the armor, lasers, and heat sinks. However, that came at the cost of cargo capacity, which has been reduced to 59,839 tons."

"Still a hefty amount."

"I guess." The familiar clang of the dropship hooking into its docking collar rang through the ship. "Let's see the inside, shall we?"

"After you, Commodore."

"Commodore? I like that." By the time the two officers arrived at the docking collar, the airlock hatch finished cycling the different atmospheres on both sides and slid open with a whisper. "Follow me."

The former Comguard naval officer proceeded to give the mercenary colonel a tour of his ship. The mechwarrior was most impressed by the improvements in the living quarters in the ancient battleship. "You know, I think someone could live very well here. I would be honored if this was my command ship for this campaign against the Word of Blake."

"Thank you, Colonel."

"Pirate" Jump Point, twelve thousand kilometers from planet designate "Casa"

System Unknown

Chaos March

Word of Blake Protectorate

4 October 3077

One moment, the space between the fourth and fifth planets was empty. The next, a nine-hundred-thousand-ton starship filled that space.

"We are on target, sir," the lead Navigation officer announced.

"Good to hear, Commander," Andrew replied. "Sensor Ops?"

"Near as I can tell, orbital planetary defenses consist of a few Battlesats with aerospace fighter and dropship support. As expected, the Blakists noticed our arrival. I mark two _Essex_ destroyers and one _Congress_ frigate on an intercept course, with their full dropship and fighter complements deployed. Aerospace fighters are confirmed as various Spectrals while the dropships are a mix of _Titan_s, _Pentagon_s, and _Leopard_ PWs."

"Angel Flight and Excaliburs deploy. Concentrate fire on the _Leopard_s. Gun Boss, the _Congress _is your primary target. Kill it before it can get in range. Hit those destroyers only if you have the spare firepower."

"Missile launches detected. I mark four Killer Whales, four Barracudas and two White sharks. Three minutes to impact."

"Excaliburs, concentrate your fire on those missiles. Gun Boss, do the same with the forward PPC battery."

"Yes sir. Generating firing solutions. Firing in ten."

While the _Excalibur_s concentrated on the lighter, and less armored, White Sharks and Barracudas, the four Heavy Naval PPCs mounted on the nose of the _Du Shi Wang_ lashed out at the Killer Whales; one of them slashed two missiles at the same time, while another missed entirely.

The Excaliburs also lashed out at their opposing dropships before pulling off and doubling back toward the _Templar Knight_. The four Krakens they launched all plowed into the nose of one of the two _Pentagon_s. Under the combined assault, the fast-assault dropship faltered, shuddered, and finally collapsed in on itself.

"Two Barracudas and one White Shark still inbound. Brace for impact in four-zero seconds."

"Helm, down fifty-five, starboard twenty."

"Down fifty-five, starboard twenty, aye, sir." The ship appeared to lurch as the massive inter-planetary engines engaged to push the ancient ship through the tight turn. However, the desperate maneuver worked…mostly. The remaining White Shark sailed over the hull with scant tens of meters to spare. The two Barracudas tore decent divots in the armor.

"Level out, port twenty. Take it slow. Gun Boss, slam those Gausses into that _Congress_. Try not to hit the bridge."

"You got it, sir." Soon came the double-clang of the two massive forward gauss cannons accelerating the half-ton nickel-iron spheres down their barrels to become a ship-killing payload. One slug skittered off of the side of the _Congress_'s nose, digging a massive trough in the frontal armor. The other cored straight into the launch tube of the Killer Whale missile launcher. Unfortunately, the slug hit the currently loaded missile, which detonated and triggered sympathetic detonations in the magazines for the NACs and the remaining missiles. In less than a minute, the frigate was torn completely apart.

"Helmsman, set up a broadside against those _Essex_es."

"No need. The dropships are pulling off and I'm reading K-F drive power spikes in both of those destroyers."

"Understood. As soon as they jump, set us up in low orbit to provide covering fire to our ground forces. Excaliburs, your path is clear."

"_Roger that, Commodore. Beginning our drop run._"

Dropship _Faithful Squire_

Inbound Planet Designate "Casa," System Unidentified

Chaos March

Word of Blake Protectorate

5 October 3077

"_Touchdown in five minutes. They're scattered, but they'll regroup pretty quickly._"

"Roger that." For the second mission since he had gotten it, Jeremiah climbed up the chain ladder leading to the _Oni_'s cockpit. His climb was a little easier than normal due to the fact that Andrew had brought a new piece of Star League lostech that had only recently been rediscovered: the mechwarrior cooling suit. When he got up into the cockpit, he sat down and plugged the coolant hose that came up from beside the command chair into the suit and settled the still-bulky neurohelmet onto the padded collar of the suit. After plugging the suit's sensor cables into the helmet, the colonel flipped the lever that brought the massive Vlar engine rumbling to life. "Diagnostics," he ordered the computer as he activated the retraction unit for the ladder and buckled the five-point harness.

"Weapons…online. Sensors…online. All systems nominal. Please state your access phrase."

"Live bravely; die hard."

"Welcome, Colonel."

"All right, Avengers," he began, using the nickname the unit had decided on. "When we land planet-side, the Blakists will do all they can to stop us from razing this facility to the ground, but we will have to clear them from our path. Saddle up and give them a display of wrath worthy of General Aleksandr Kerensky when he struck down Amaris the Usurper."

"_Hoo-ah, Colonel. Clear out those 'Mechs and we'll clear out the complex,_" rang a voice the Colonel was surprised to hear.

"Charles? Why aren't you in your _Wolfhound_?"

"_Someone had to test out the second class of our unique battlearmors in full-on live-fire combat conditions."_

Jeremiah sighed. "Great," he muttered, too low for his mic to pick up. Before he could muse further on the subject, the dropship thudded against the ground. Though he could neither see nor hear it, he knew that the second _Excalibur_, _Pilgrims' Guard_, was touching down less than half a klick away. The instant the 'Mech bay doors of the _Faithful Squire_ opened, he set the _Oni_ into a stately walk at a speed of thirty-two kilometers per hour and led his battalion out onto the dusty plateau that the Blakists had built their base on.

The ground, which had been turned into glass in some places by the fusillade of naval lasers the _Templar Knight_ had bombarded the surface with, crunched under the hundred-ton step of the _Oni_. His first victim was a _Tempest_ that had only been "grazed" by the massive lasers: its left arm was gone and its left torso heavily damaged. A PPC and plasma bolt snuffed out the extra-light engine. He followed that up by beheading a _Falcon_ _Hawk_ with his retractable blade.

As other Blakist 'Mechs began to gather their wits and attempt to stand against the oncoming battalions, most became wreathed in explosions as Eric Kensington's _Salamander_s unleashed a hail of Swarm LRMs, a hundred and eighty in all. What few were left standing were then cut down by the combined firepower of the remaining sixty-six 'Mechs of Righteous Ascent. The _Cobra_ VTOLs (which now numbered a dozen) and the newly formed and incorporated Rolling Thunder armor unit (four wheeled tanks, four tracked Omnitanks, and four additional VTOLs, two _Crow_ scouts and two heavily modified _Peregrine_s) added their firepower to the fight.

In minutes, the Blakist division lay in ruins. "All right, Charlie. Your path is clear. Tell us what you find inside," Jeremiah stated as he watched the twelve _Cobra_s fly toward different parts of the facility, each disgorging a full platoon of battlearmor. "Good luck, all of you," he whispered.

Major Charles Pinter stepped slowly through the facility, keeping an eye on both his sensor readout and his surroundings. In the half-light, he thought he saw a slight movement near the corner he was approaching. Instinctively, both his armor's recoilless rifle and the shotgun mounted in the anti-personnel weapon slot were quickly trained on the location he estimated that the hostile's torso would be, and he began side-stepping to keep the possible ambusher as far away as possible; the last thing he needed was a vibroblade in the gut. Soon enough, he was proven right as a Robe soldier wearing Tornado armor charged at him with a vibrosword humming dangerously.

The mini-rocket blasted open a hole in the enemy trooper's armor, which was followed by the close spread of pellets from the shotgun; the poor sod never stood a chance. Rounding the corner, the Major came upon a heavy ferro-aluminum door. Fortunately, he had about twenty kilos of C8 explosives left in the cargo slot of his armor. One kilogram applied to each hinge sent the door clanging to the ground.

Behind the door was a line of ten cells, five on each side of a short hallway. Only a couple of them were occupied. On one side was a Mechwarrior, modified with certain Manei Domini implants. On the other side was a pair of warriors that made him start. "You're Elementals!"

"Yes, mercenary surat. We are."

Pinter took off his helmet and slashed the locks with his suit's vibroblade. Opening the doors he asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Guess," one of the foot-soldiers stated, gesturing to her fellow infantrywoman. What Charles saw made him blanch a little. The other Elemental appeared to have practically every Domini tech that existed installed in her body from prosthetic eyes to dermal plating in the chest to myomer-enhanced prosthetics replacing her legs and arms.

"They were trying to fuse Manei Domini enhancements with Clan eugenics?"

"Indeed. And it appears the three of us were the only ones who survived the dishonorable procedure."

"Would you like to join us and get revenge for your fellow Clanners' wasteful deaths?"

The less-tampered-with of the Elementals considered the offer for a moment before replying, "While warriors who would sell their skills to the highest bidder are normally beneath me in honor, the Word of Blake are no better than the Dark Caste and my rage and my honor demand that I find a way to destroy the savashri. Besides, I would be relegated to a solahma unit were I to return to Clan space, and Aeranna would be shunned as something less than human due to the tampering to her body. I will join you. I am River Tan."

"Wherever my sibkin's honor leads, mine follows," Aeranna added.

"I will leave, while there is still some honor attached to my name!" the mechwarrior stated as his refusal.

The mercenary introduced himself and began leading the way out of the facility.

"Commodore? You may want to see this," former Demi-Precentor, now Captain Allison Kierdon, now Benavidas' first mate, stated.

"What is it, Ally?"

"Take a look."

Through the viewport was what appeared to be a wrecked shipyard with the framework of a single warship, also wrecked, moored in place. It was colossal in size, easily longer than a _McKenna_. The only visible internal structures were a massive barrel that appeared to be over half a kilometer in length and the equally gigantic Kearny-Fuchida drive mounting. "Mother of God. What is that?"

Shaking her head, Allison replied, "I wish I knew."

Andrew pondered for a moment, and then he ordered, "Get some salvage crews out there. I want to know everything about that ship and, more importantly, if there were any more of its class constructed."

Hours Later

"We pulled these out of the shipyard's main computer. They're stills from some simulated combats. The Blakists couldn't wipe everything," Major Aaron Kering stated as he spread a few photos across the main conference table on the _Templar Knight_'s bridge.

They depicted a massive warship the likes of which was theretofore unknown in the Inner Sphere. After nearly a minute of study, Colonel Biddix noted, "Wait. These are two different vessels."

"How can you tell?" the commodore asked.

He tapped the prow of the pictured vessel. "There are minor differences. The size of the main gun, the exact placement of the secondary weapons…"

"He's right," Kierdon concurred.

Kering nodded his head sadly. "Indeed." He tapped the warship with the smaller weapon barrel. "This one was notated in the logs as the _Golden Rain_, and the other was to be christened _Blake's Guiding Light_. What little we could find makes it seem as if the _Rain_ was completed, while the _Light_ was the wrecked frame we found in the 'yard."

The colonel pondered for a moment, and then stated, "Commodore, I think we should keep this information on file, just in case we run into either this ship class or Stone's coalition forces. I'd wager that they'd want to know about it. In the meantime, I have a message I'd like delivered to Gibson and Terra using the HPG here."

"What is it?"

"'Your men are obsolete.'"


	4. Revenge

Galaport, Galatea

Skye Province

Lyran Alliance

January 18, 3078

With a rousing cheer, the high officers of Righteous Ascent and some other warriors from other mercenary units raised their glasses in a toast to the newer unit's success. "To our victory! May many more follow," the Colonel stated cheerily before taking a large draft from his beer.

"I still can't believe your regiment invaded a Blakist world, alone, and kicked the collective asses of every single defender that was there," one of the other mercenary commanders stated.

"Well, to be fair, we did bring in a battleship and used it to blast the bejeezus out of them before we landed our ground troops."

"Also," Pinter piped up, "Remember that we're the same unit that dropped in, bloodied the 47th, and bounced out with the bodies of Crymo and the Bionic Witch of Galaport."

At that moment, someone new walked into the bar. He looked normal enough, which set the Colonel's nerves on edge; there was nothing about him that said where he was from, not even his behavior. "Charles, keep an eye on him. Something's off," he whispered.

"Got 'im."

The man walked up toward the table. "I'm looking for the commander of the Righteous Ascent mercenary unit?" Even his voice lacked an accent. Jeremiah moved his hand closer to the grip of his revolver.

The other commander stood and proudly announced, "Well, if you're lookin' to sign on-" He got no further, as a long, white-hot blade emerged from his back. The assassin withdrew his vibroblade and the corpse dropped to the ground.

Colonel Biddix stood quickly, knocking over both the table and the chair he was sitting at, drew the massive magnum revolver, and drilled the stranger with one twelve-point-seven-millimeter round straight into his forehead. As the man dropped, Jeremiah spat, "Wrong mercenary commander."

Then the man got back up and his hand split open to reveal a small laser pistol. "Now I'll get the right one." The first blast struck the older man just above his hip, causing him to tumble behind the bar as he tried to run for cover.

"He's a fucking Domini!" one of the other patrons stated as they, too, dove for cover.

"Damn right. And I'm here to deliver Blake's wrath to those who would try to make fools of us! Starting with these heretics who call themselves Righteous Ascent!" he shouted as he began firing indiscriminately.

Suddenly, the shooting stopped. The Manei Domini tottered for a moment, and then he collapsed, his head rolling away. Behind him stood River, her vibrokatana humming dangerously in the Elemental's grasp. "I think not." She shut off the blade and stated, "There are several dropships inbound masking their approach with heavy jamming equipment. At least two divisions will be on top of us inside of twelve minutes."

"What…ah!" He paused as he regarded the slowly smoking hole in his coat and the armor underneath it. "What is Benavidas' situation?"

"He is bogged down in combat against two destroyer-sized vessels that are rather more maneuverable than the _Templar Knight_."

"Alert the Legion and suit up. We will need every warrior we can get into their machines. Pinter, round up your battalion and double-time it."

"Yes, sir."

"Aff."

For the next few minutes, Jeremiah rushed around Galaport, gathering the dispersed Mechwarriors of his regiment. As he did so, he saw several other mercenary commanders doing the same thing he was. _The Word of Blake certainly made a mistake attacking the Mercenaries' Star, again._ When there were only four minutes remaining until the Blakist dropships would make planetfall, the Colonel made for Excalibur Alpha, where the _Oni_ was stored.

However, before he could get there, a massive BattleMech crashed down onto the tarmac in front of him. As the dust cleared, he saw that it was a _Seraph Invictus_. Fortunately, it was facing away from him, so it didn't see him. As it further turned left to loose a burst from its ultra autocannon at some target he couldn't see, Jeremiah made an immediate right turn and raced to the nearest 'Mech hangar, as he had ordered twelve of his 'warriors to scatter their 'Mechs around Galaport, just in case something like this happened. Yet, he had lost track of which 'Mech was in which hangar.

He threw open the door…and groaned as he saw which Righteous Ascent BattleMech was stored inside: Valerie Chihok's -5S _Stalker_, which was powered by an Edasich Motors 255-rated Extra-Light engine. Cursing up a storm under his breath, Colonel Biddix strode toward the eighty-five ton titan of destruction, stripping his civilian clothes as he walked. He followed that up by trading his concealed ab/flak body armor for the cooling vest and shorts laid out on a workbench before climbing up the chain ladder that led to the cockpit.

Once at the top, he took a quick look at the burn mark that the would-be assassin's laser-enhanced prosthetic had left on his side; it would sting like the nine hells and leave another scar, but the armor had managed to absorb the shot's lethality in its entirety. Bringing his focus back to the battle at hand, Jeremiah slid into the command chair and plugged in the vest. After that, he pulled the neurohelmet out of its cubby hole and lowered it onto his head. When he plugged it in, the 'Mech's security computer blared, "Warning. Neuroscans do not match."

"Command override: Alpha Whiskey One Niner."

"Override accepted. Welcome, Colonel," the computer replied as the large, light engine underneath thrummed to life.

"Diagnostics."

"Reactor…online. Sensors…online. Weapons…online. All systems nominal."

"Alright. Let's get this party started." He set the _Stalker_ into a walking pace for a few steps, and then he punched the throttle to maximum and crashed through the front wall of the 'Mech hangar. Quickly, he reoriented himself to find any targets he could. Somewhat surprisingly, the _Seraph_ was still there, blazing away with its autocannon and missiles. Shutting down his active targeting sensors, Jeremiah stepped closer, drawing a bead on the right-most section of the Blakist's backside. "Hey, bastard! Knock, knock!" He discharged all of his lasers, the triple-pulses of the Thunderbolt-12s and the solid beams of the Magna Mk. IIs.

Two of the medium lasers speared the _Seraph_'s spine and right leg, but the rest of the lasers struck true, carving away the rear armor of the right torso, and then they melted all of the foamed aluminum bones behind that shell. Lacking the proper supports, the armor plate in the front collapsed and the _Seraph_'s right arm and its hefty autocannon dropped unceremoniously to the ground. To his credit, the Manei Domini pilot kept his machine upright despite the massive shifting in weight. Before it could turn around, Jeremiah hit the throttle and stepped down a side street, putting a building between himself and the _Seraph_ while the _Stalker_ cooled down and reengaged his active sensors. As he came out onto the next cross-street, he caught sight of the Blakist's wounded chest. Thereon was a familiar logo, all too familiar: the _Seraph_ belonged to the 47th Shadow Division. That thought occurred even as the Domini sent a PPC bolt his way.

"Wondered when you guys would try to seek revenge," the Colonel whispered as he responded with a full missile volley; seven SRMs and a dozen LRMs sandblasted armor from the remaining two thirds of the _Seraph_'s chest. "Unfortunately for you, that revenge will be denied." He slammed the throttle forward while hitting the firing stud for the medium lasers. The quad blast knocked the _Seraph_ off balance for a precious second or two. By the time the Manei Domini mechwarrior recovered, Jeremiah's _Stalker_ slammed into the WoB 'Mech at fifty four kilometers per hour. The impact crushed some of the engine shielding in the _Seraph_'s left torso, forcing the engine to shut down to prevent the miniature star from escaping.

Suddenly, the Missile Proximity alarm blared, while another weapon scoured armor off of the _Stalker_'s backside. The Colonel wrenched his control sticks to swing the assault 'Mech around to face this new foe that had somehow gotten the drop on him. The Deprus Swarmshot AMS engaged and tried to claw the incoming missiles out of the air. It succeeded against one of them. The other slammed into the side of the _Stalker_ with the force that only a thunderbolt-class missile could, nearly throwing Jeremiah to the ground. Managing to keep his feet, Righteous Ascent's commander completed his turn and tried to get a bead on his assailant.

* * *

><p>Andrew gritted his teeth as the <em>Knight<em> shuddered from the impact of two more naval gauss rounds. "Status?"

"Aft side armor's down to seventy-three percent right, fifty-two percent left."

"Both enemy ships are moving through our aft arc."

"Helmsman, Gun Boss, end-over to Hell."

"Roger that," the helmsman replied as he typed in a group of commands that would test the limits of the old warship's superstructure. Maneuvering thrusters mounted along both the back half of the top and front half of the bottom of the Du Shi Wang fired, flipping the ancient ship end-over-end so that all of its forward guns faced the two destroyers. One managed to get below the battleship's plane of firepower, but the other caught the full "Hell" portion of the maneuver. Four PPCs, three Naval Lasers, and three Naval Gauss Rifles blasted apart hundreds of armor plates along the unfortunate ship's side. The rear quarter was completely torn open, expelling hundreds of cubic meters of atmosphere into space and sending the destroyer spinning.

"Let's nail the other one. SensOps, where is it?"

The man was silent for a second or so. "About to drop behind us and ready a broadside. Wait. I'm detecting an inbound K-F drive signature! And it's huge."

It was Andrew's turn to be silent. "Gentlemen, if the inbound ship is what I think it is, then it's been an honor serving with you."

"Same here, sir."

Seconds later, the detected starship dropped out of hyperspace and began to maneuver. However, it was not the _Golden Rain_. Its gunners took aim and fired a massive broadside of numerous NACs and Naval Gauss Rifles, but their target was not the _Templar Knight_. In less than a minute, the remaining maneuvering Blakist destroyer ceased to exist in an expanding fireball. Returning the favor, the Du Shi Wang's Naval Lasers reached out to finish off the crippled destroyer. "Comm. Open a channel to our mystery helper."

"It's open."

Noticing the distinctive blue-gray gauntlet on top of a silver shield that was the coat of arms of the Lyran Alliance, Andrew began, "Unidentified Lyran vessel-" but he got no further.

"This is the LAS _Thunderchild_. How about we help each other clear out this Blakist scum that decided to move into Steiner space uninvited?"

"That's a proposition I certainly accept, Captain—?"

"Hauptmann Johann Schwartz. I don't need you to introduce yourself, Commodore Benavidas."

* * *

><p>Two more thunderbolt missiles slammed into the <em>Stalker<em>'s chest, and one of them punched through, sparking warning alarms as the engine's shielding and one of the large lasers was damaged. As Precentor Tamiel's _Grigori_ practically danced around him, Jeremiah could feel the assault 'Mech dying around him as he lost his fight with gravity and the war machine crashed to the ground.

One arm was gone, one SRM rack was destroyed, the other was out of ammunition, and the remaining LRM launcher was nearly dry. The fall crushed one of the Thunderbolt-12s, leaving him with one LRM rack, two medium lasers, and one large pulse laser. Powerful as the _Stalker_ was, it just could no longer deliver the concentrated damage the _Grigori_ could.

Speaking thus, as he finished bringing Chihok's 'Mech back to its feet, the Missile Lock alarm blared weakly, and Tamiel fired again. Biddix twisted the _Stalker_'s torso and turned as fast as he could. Even as the missiles struck, he was firing back with his remaining complement of weapons. Armor melted and ran in rivulets all along the _Grigori_'s chest while the missiles blasted away plates along the right arm and leg.

The thunderbolt missiles, on the other hand, blasted what was left of the remaining arm into scrap metal and crushed more of the engine shielding, finally reaching the tipping point. "Warning: Reactor Containment Breached," the computer announced. "Shutting down." With that, the miniature star at the _Stalker_'s heart was extinguished, and the massive BattleMech toppled to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. All Jeremiah could do was brace for the impact. The 'Mech landed directly on its side, its cockpit canopy facing its aggressor.

His 'Mech's footsteps thudding as it stepped closer, Tamiel keyed his external speakers. "It's time for you to die, Righteous Ascent dog."

"So, this is it? This is how I go out? In a dead 'Mech and no way to fight back? Very well."

He watched as the PPC mounted in the _Grigori_'s head began to charge. Before it could fire, a large humanoid shape leaped from one of the buildings lining the avenue and landed on the 'Mech's head. The battlesuit latched on with the battle claw that served as its left hand, slid a satchel off of its right shoulder, and smashed it into and through the OmniMech's cockpit glass. The infantryman then clambered down the now doomed 'Mech as fast as he could. Three seconds later, the Celestial's head erupted in a great fireball, and the new leader of the 47th Shadow Division was dead.

Deprived of its brain, the _Grigori_ wavered for a few seconds before finally crumpling to the pavement.

The trooper approached the fallen _Stalker_. "I apologize for stealing your kill, Colonel," River said as she tore open Jeremiah's harness and pulled him to his feet.

"Thanks for the assistance, Hellion Fury." He pulled off the neurohelmet and unplugged and drained the cooling vest. Looking back at the wrecked assault 'Mech, he added, "Valerie's going to go ballistic."

River's helmet dipped. "She did not make it, sir."

"What?"

The Elemental nodded toward the fallen Blakist 'Mech. "That savashri dropped down directly on top of her position. She is carbon dust, now. We need to get you to the _Oni_, quickly."

"Shit. Let's go."

* * *

><p>The <em>Oni<em> stalked through the streets of Galaport, searching for targets. Two blocks to his left, Jeremiah watched a Black Aces _Daikyu_ spear a _Preta_ in the back with its PPC and autocannons, sending it sprawling on the road surface, never to rise again. To his right, a _Warlord_ and a _Hammerhands _from two other units finished pounding an _Archangel _into scrap metal.

Jeremiah finally found a target in a badly mauled _Deva_. The blade in the assault 'Mech's right arm plunged into the top of the heavy 'Mech, driving its torso down to meet the _Oni_'srising knee. The resulting impact crumpled the smaller unit. He kicked the carcass to the side.

What was occurring could no longer be called a battle. This was clean-up. In the distance, a pillar of flame extended into the sky. It was joined by three more as the Blakist dropships tried to escape. According to Andrew, there was none. Only death awaited the crews. Jeremiah pitied them for choosing the wrong employers in this conflict.

He keyed the general radio channel. "Does anyone have any more tangoes on scope?"

The commander of one of the all-vehicle units was the first to respond. "One moment." There was the crack of a _Regulator_'sgauss rifle. "Not in range of my crews."

More reports of clear scopes came in. What few enemies remained were quickly destroyed with coordinated fire from multiple merc units. In minutes, the 47th Shadow Division ceased to exist. Jeremiah had to wonder just what had possessed Precentor Tamiel to make such an idiotic decision; even for a raid, sending a single division against the equivalent of three and a half combined-arms regiments, with only a few companies not clustered in Galaport, was stupid. "Probably explains how Devlin managed to escape Kittery."

A familiar _Wolfhound_ stepped out of a side-street in front of him. "What do we do now?"

That was a very good question. Fortunately, he had an answer. "Well, there is a contract in the employ of Devlin Stone's coalition. I was thinking of taking that, after we mourn those we lost." Every unit on the Mercenary's Star had taken losses. Some of the smaller units had been wiped out entirely. Righteous Ascent had lost nineteen Mechwarriors, nearly two dozen Black Legionnaires, and one Rolling Thunder tank crew.

"What's the target?"

"The home of the Manei Domini. We're going after Gibson."


End file.
